Back On the Air: Radio Free Roscoe Season Five
by xBittersweetx27
Summary: What happens in Season five? It's a question on every Radio Free Roscoe fan's mind!
1. Ten, Lily, Zen

_A/N: I'm new to this site and I thought I would post my story about what I think happens in Season Five. I am definitely not trying to copy off of anyone who already posted a story like this because I have been writing this since the show ended. It's a pretty obvious idea actually, and I'll expect a lot more people to make them. I got this list of episodes from another site, and I completely give all credit to the writers, creators and affiliates of RFR for the episode names. I am not trying to pass them off as my own. However, this story is full of my original ideas only, and I did not take any from anyone. Anything similar is completely coincidental. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own RFR, and this fanfiction season is not official or affiliated with any RFR cast or crew members. _

_I hope I made this as close to the real RFR as it gets!_

Episode One: Ten, Lily, Zen

When Lily walked through the doors of Henry Roscoe High, she was expecting familiarity. She expected the same old people with the same old faces, the same old teachers, and the same routine days as last year. But this is not what she got. She got the some old people with different faces, different teachers walking the halls, and now there were the lowly lost freshman, like she was last year, trying to remember their way around. She smiled, she knew her way around. This was her school and this year she could enjoy it more with ease.

Naturally, she gravitated toward her friend's usual hangout place on the back staircase. Luckily, no freshman had claimed it yet. Sitting on the bottom step, she saw the school in a new way. It was wiser with shadows of last year, Freshman Lily, Freshman Ray, Freshman Robbie, and even Freshman Travis. Now she was the older, Sophomore Lily, ready to meet the new sophomore version of her friends that she hadn't seen in awhile.

"I told you she'd be here!" Robbie's voice said from behind her.

She turned around and laughed, Robbie and Ray had also come out of instinct. Lily jumped up and gave her friend Robbie the best hug a friend could get, and to Ray she smiled shyly, receiving the kiss she had waited all summer for. Sure, she had talked to Ray for countless hours and met up with him at his family's end of the summer barbeque after the mall tour, but her parents were there. She spent the entire time telling everyone who asked about the tour, and looking over at Ray longingly, wondering what her parents would think of their new found relationship.

"I cannot believe I barely saw you guys this summer!" Ray noticed, "It's like you were avoiding me or something."

"Well, I was avoiding your stench, and Lily was avoiding your cooties!" Robbie laughed.

"Ha! You're SO funny! At least I didn't spend my whole summer with Kim Carlisle and her weird new psychotic antics!" Ray snapped back.

Robbie stuttered in thought, "At least my mother doesn't do my laundry!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

And it continued like it usually does. Lily just stood back and laughed. Her friends were able to just pick up where they left off. She couldn't help imagining Travis being there.

"If he were here, Travis would tell you guys about wasting words," she sighed in remembrance.

"And then he'd quote Buddha or some old philosopher we've never heard of!" Robbie added.

"Gosh, I actually miss that little weasel!" Ray exclaimed, "He even kind of looks like a weasel if you think about it."

Lily hit him playfully, and he gave her a puppy-dog pleading face.

She sighed, "I miss those useless Buddha quotes too. I just wish he'd pop up and quote Buddha again."

But as she thought about it more, the quotes weren't useless. They were ingrained in her mind, and were a new part of her he had left behind. She decided that Freshman Ray and Freshman Robbie were a lot like their sophomore versions, but who was Sophomore Lily? She was determined to find out. And she just wished she could find out what Sophomore Travis was like.

As he poked the mysterious meat on his tray, Robbie reflected on his summer. He was truly sorry his friends had not really been included in it, but he loved each moment he had spent with his new Kim. The new Kim was free, independent, and fearless. She was more fun than ever and sometimes the fact that he liked her so much scared him.

Classes today had been boring, the informational day where they went over the same rules and expectations in each class. It wasn't as if Robbie felt distant from his friends, he just felt like they each had so much to tell that they would never get it all out.

"What did that meat ever do to you?" Lily asked.

He looked down at his plate and saw all the holes in his meat patty.

"It has more holes than Tim's gym socks!" Ray laughed.

Principal Waller fluttered by, seeming as though he was looking for someone. He tried so hard to be a good principal; he always got to the bottom of everything.

E_verything except for RFR_, Robbie thought. Then he wondered of the radio station he loved so much would return, even without Travis. He almost asked his friends, but then had to stop himself.

"Hey Cutie!" Kim exclaimed, sitting down on Robbie's lap.

Ray and Lily exchanged glances.

"Hey Kim!" said Robbie, his face lighting up as he spoke.

"Hi everyone!" Kim said to Ray and Lily, "See guys, I was thinking, and I thought it would be totally fun if I sat at your table every day! I could see Robbie, and get to know his friends . . . What do you think?"

"Guys?" Robbie asked in a "please say yes" way.

"Sure," Ray mumbled.

"Um . . . yeah, if you start sitting in a chair or something," Lily added.

Kim laughed, and sat in the empty chair next to her.

Robbie looked disappointed. He glanced around at the other tables. New freshman boys stared at Kim, and Robbie felt a pang of pride. That was his girl! He saw a boy sitting alone at his own table, and remembered how last year he would have made fun of someone like that. Now, it was as if he was another Travis.

"So what's up guys?" Kim asked happily. "Oh, did you hear? Garth Khlimchuck got expelled for putting gummy bears in the nacho cheese machine. What a loser!"

Ray and Lily had moved closer in their own little world and Robbie laughed.

"Classes are so boring today!" Robbie pointed out.

"Yeah I know, I've heard everything like a bizzilion times," Kim said, "This is my senior year too you know."

"I know, don't remind me," Robbie answered.

"Aw Robbie! We have a whole year together, it'll be great!" Kim exclaimed.

But Robbie knew this wasn't true. He knew that eventually he'd have to say goodbye.

Ray was on a mission, to find Tim and embarrass him in front of his new girlfriend. But where could he be? Just as he spotted him talking to her down the hallway, Principal Waller intervened and stopped him.

"Ah! Mr. Brennan, I've been looking for you!" he said.

"Detention already? What did I do Sir?" Ray sighed; it was hard work being one of Roscoe's best class clowns and practical jokers.

"No, not anything bad, I just wanted to speak with you," he chuckled.

"Sure, shoot." Ray said, wondering what it could be if he didn't do anything wrong, and also missing his chance with Tim.

"Well, since our last Cougar Radio sports caster Garth umm…_quit_, I thought you could do it again!" he suggested, "I was so impressed by you last year."

"Oh I don't think I can do that, no time!" Ray exclaimed, making an excuse.

He was determined not to be attacked by another crazy jock this year.

"Why not? Do you have to listen to 'RFR' or something!" he joked, waving his hands up, "Well, I think I have finally put a stop to RFR of course!"

"No, actually I have to go grocery shopping for my mom," Ray answered, desperate for an excuse.

"You have to go grocery shopping everyday?" he asked, puzzled.

"Yeah! My family eats like farm animals!" Ray exclaimed. "Tim of course eats like a pig, and my parents are like . . . cows! And well, I have my new job at Mickey's! Speaking of which, I must be on my way right now Sir! You know how it is!"

"Ah yes, you'd better be going," Principal Waller said, walking away to catch a few littering students in the act.

Ray shook his head. Cougar Radio? That reminded him of Radio Free Roscoe, where he had decided to go after school despite the break-up. Who knows? They might just go on the air.

"So you haven't talked to him AT ALL?" Lily asked her friend Parker on their way out of the school.

"Nope, not since the first show on the mall tour," she answered.

"That sucks man," Lily answered, sympathetic toward her friend.

"It feels like . . . I'm the girl who is left behind, like Bridget last time," she explained.

_"All love starts out the best thing in the world, but we never know what happens in the end," _Lily replied.

"That was very Travisy," Parker noticed.

"It was on my mom's date calendar this morning," she said, thinking about the coincidence.

It really was like Travis though! She remembered him saying that before. All his quotes were with her now, and his concepts of Zen and life. She sighed because she missed him probably as much as Parker.

"Well, I've got to be going now Parker, okay?" Lily said.

"Sure, call me later so you can help me sulk!" she exclaimed. "Now, there's a pudding cup in my cupboard with my name on it!"

Parker ran off, and started walking home with her other friend Megan.

Lily walked the familiar walk to the station. It was somewhere she hadn't been in awhile, but as she walked up toward the door, she got a sense that she was home.

"You too Lily?" Robbie asked.

She spotted Robbie and Ray sitting on one of the old garbage cans.

"I just couldn't stay away I guess," she explained.

"Everyone in study hall was talking, as they normally do in study hall, and they were all wondering if RFR was coming back," Robbie told them.

"Yeah, and then there was Kim's lovely threat on Cougar Radio this afternoon," Lily noticed, looking at Robbie.

"Sorry Robbie, but she's still out to get us!" Ray said.

"So . . . is RFR back or what?" Robbie asked, changing the subject.

There was silence, and the three friends didn't know what to say.

Lily wanted it back. She wanted last year's Cougar Radio battles, her songs and segments about random things. She wanted Ray's jokes, and Robbie's wise questions and debates. She wanted Travis's quotes and knowledge of the control panel. But without Travis, would it be the same? Could they even be RFR anymore?

_"Being defeated is often a temporary condition, giving up is what makes it permanent," _Lily stated after awhile.

"Haha Travis!" Ray laughed.

"I say RFR is back . . ." Robbie decided.

"I second that," Lily said.

"I third it," Ray added.

They ran into the station to start the show at the normal time. Lily glanced at where Travis would have been and smiled. Travis brought RFR back.

"I'm Question Mark and YOU were wondering, is RFR coming back?" Robbie asked, at home again on the air in front of his microphone.

"Well all of us minus one at RFR are happy to say, that it looks like you guys are stuck with us for another year," Ray said, as Pronto.

"Smog would send his love to all you listeners, but he's not here to say it," Lily added, as Shady Lane. "We will all miss him greatly, but I think somehow we'll get him to listen to RFR."

"Yeah, send him the broadcast!" Ray exclaimed.

"And on that note, I would like to invite our listeners to call in and tell us about your summer, say hi to Smog, anything," Robbie said, "Because we're back, and we're sticking around."

Robbie reached over and turned their voices off the air. They were back, and Robbie couldn't have been happier. But then there was the aspect of Kim. Did she really hint that he was Question Mark? Would he get another guilt trip by not telling her? All these were mixed emotions. He looked at Ray and Lily, his original three friends. It was as if Travis had been erased from the picture by a very large eraser. He noticed that they were still somewhat distant since the summer, but he hoped that would ease up soon.

"Guys, I didn't know we were doing this so I didn't write any new songs," Lily said, "I've been mostly singing the same ones with No Man's Land. I'll have a new one by tomorrow I guess."

"I guess that's how it is when you're a rock star!" Ray said.

"It does seem like it! Some Freshman girl followed me around today after third period and made me sign her NML locker poster," Lily told them.

"Oh that's so a burden right Lily? You know you loved it!" Robbie laughed.

" . . . I did!" she laughed too, "On the tour some guy wanted Megan to sign his underwear."

"Did she do it?" Ray asked.

"No, she threatened to smack him with her drumsticks," Lily answered.

"I bet that made him go away," Robbie said.

"No, he followed us to three of the tour stops," she said.

"A stalker!" Robbie laughed.

"Lily?" Ray asked.

"Yes Ray?"

"Will you sign my underwear?" he asked.

Lily's face turned red and she hit him.

"This is RFR and we're back on the air," Robbie said, glaring at his friends.

He got to take calls, he got to talk and listen. He got to do what he wanted to do. He loved every minute of it.

Ray was once again on a mission: don't be seen by Principal Waller! He had called him to the office second period, but Ray had avoided the call. There was no way he was going back on Cougar Radio!

He just had to go down one more hallway, and he was safe in the lunch room with people surrounding him. Just as he was about to pull a Mission Impossible move, he sensed that someone was watching him. Slowly, he turned around.

It was Megan! He jumped, startled by seeing someone.

"Man Megan, don't sneak up on me like that!" Ray exclaimed.

Megan pointed down the hall to a wondering Principal Waller.

"Ah!" he yelled, and the two ran to the lunch room to find their friends. He spotted them at the usual table, today with Parker, Lily, and Robbie.

"Man, you guys. Waller will _not _get off of my back! He wants me to do Cougar Radio Sports again since Garth Khlimchuck got expelled…"

"Again," the table chanted.

"-and he asked me yesterday and today like at _least_ 20 times," Ray finished as he sat at the lunch table after narrowly escaping another Waller encounter. "I don't know how to make him leave me alone!"

"He'll get sick of bothering you after a while," Parker told him. "I guess it's just his nature. You gotta deal until he's done annoying you and moves on… to someone else…"

"Howdy!" Kim exclaimed from out of nowhere, skipped over to their table and sat on Robbie's lap. "Holy cow," she reached into her purse and pulled out a wad of somewhere around 40 small pieces of paper, "it's only, what, the second day of school? All these losers are trying to give me their phone number. Some idiot that was drooling all over me in chemistry didn't have a piece of paper, so he wrote his phone number on my _arm_," she pointed to the seven digits scrawled onto her skin, "And I didn't even notice until he was on the last number!"

"Weren't you going to sit in a _chair_?" Lily asked, but Kim ignored her.

Ray studied the phone number on her arm.

"Hey that's my phone number!"

"Figures," Kim stuffed the wad of papers back into her purse, "Your brother was my lab partner. So anyway, whatcha guys talking about?"

"Um . . . Lily . . . remember what we need to finish from yesterday?" Robbie asked Lily, thinking of the RFR plans they needed to finish which they couldn't with Megan, Parker, and Kim there.

"Oh . . . um . . . yeah," Lily cleared her throat, "We, um . . . let's go Robbie."

"See you guys," Robbie said as he slid out from under Kim.

"Bye . . .?" Kim answered in an odd tone, taking Robbie's chair.

"Waller's trying to get Ray to join Cougar Radio ever since Khlimchuck got expelled . . ."Parker started.

"Again," Ray and Megan sang.

"And now he won't leave Ray alone." Parker finished.

"Yeah, Waller told me about that," Kim smiled, pushing a braid behind her ear, "I think you're pretty much screwed. He's all hung up on you!"

"Why are you still here?" Megan blurted out.

"Robbie's not here for you to hang all over anymore." Ray laughed.

"Well, excuse me for not wanting to sit with River Pierce in the Cougar Radio booth, Princess Silence and Captain Smelly!" Kim snapped.

"Well, the south end of the magnetic bond isn't here anymore!" Ray pointed out.

Parker and Megan looked at Ray.

"What? Sometimes I actually pay attention in science class!" Ray exclaimed.

Kim cleared her throat and stood up, "Well, Meggie, Raymond, Park, I'm sure you always get what you want, and since y'all hate me I'll just sit in the corner over there."

Kim stormed away angrily.

"Hey . . . Kim knows Waller, Ray!" Parker pointed out.

"And?" Ray answered, confused.

"Kim could talk to Waller for you, you know, and like get him to stop bothering you."

"Looks like I blew that idea," Ray said, "Why did I actually try to be smart?"

"Go catch her Ray, she's leaving!" Parker exclaimed.

"I'll catch her, good thing I brought my fishing net!" Ray jumped up and ran toward Kim, "Kim! Kim!"

She stopped and spun around to face him.

"Well, this is a surprise!" she said sarcastically, "If you're trying to apologize you don't have to. I've been kicked out of a bunch of lunch tables before."

"Well, I am sorry, but um . . . I was just wondering if . . . you could . . . like, talk to Waller for me? Like, to get him out of my strawberry scented hair!" Ray asked, "I knew using that expensive shampoo would attract people, but I was thinking more of like . . . girls."

"Hmm . . . I suppose . . . I mean something's up with Robbie so it's not like I have anything to do. It's sort of like he's ignoring me. I couldn't imagine why. It's not like he has something important or secret he's not telling me about, or doesn't think I've figured out."

There was an odd flicker in Kim's eye.

_She knows about RFR?_ Ray wondered.

"Do you . . . _know_?"

"Know what?" she smiled, than frowned, then smiled again, "I'm joking, duh, I know Brennan. He didn't even tell me and I figured it out. I don't get why a dumb radio station would be more important than his girlfriend for crying out loud."

Ray stared at her, wondering why she didn't tell anyone yet.

"Don't tell him okay?" Kim asked, "I don't want him thinking of me differently because I know his _deep dark secret_."

"Um . . . Okay," Ray agreed.

"And I won't tell anyone," Kim added, "You can trust me."

Ray nodded and Kim turned toward the door, ready to leave.

"And Kim?" he asked, Kim turned around, "You can sit at our table anytime, even without Robbie there."

"I'm a girl… Who has no ideas… of what to write a song about… and Robbie isn't helping… because I know he would much rather be Kim's Santa… and have her sit on his lap… than stay here with me… while he taps his pencil angrily… and I sing this lame song… lalalala…"

"Lily! Will you please stop? I'm trying to think here!" Robbie exclaimed as Lily rewired her gold guitar's strings and desperately tried to think of a good song for that day's RFR while they sat in the empty music room together.

"Think about what? Kim?" Lily smiled at Robbie.

"Why does everything have to relate to Kim? Gosh, you guys must think I'm obsessed with her or something!"

"Whatever you say, Robbie McGrath."

"Don't you have a song to write?"

"'Don't you have a song to write?'" Lily mocked in a 'Robbie-ish' voice.

Robbie sighed. "Why is everything so different this year?"

He slid down in his chair and continued tapping his pencil.

"Why don't _you_ write a song if you want everything to be so perfect?" Lily snapped "Or better yet, why don't you hang out with _Kim_? I mean, she's the only one who hasn't changed _at all_ from last year."

"Lily, I just don't understand!" Robbie admitted. "It's like Travis left and everything's… I don't know… _different_._ Boring_. And for some reason you can't even think of a new song! I can't think of anything to question, and Ray… well, Ray doesn't even seem to care. Why can't everything be like last year, Lily?"

"Well, things have to change Robbie," Lily put her guitar aside and reached for a paper and pencil to start brainstorming. "And Ray's just… spontaneous I guess. He lets things happen. He cares about RFR, trust me. He just gets inspiration randomly and in odd places.

"Well, Lily," Robbie wondered. "Where do you get your inspiration?"

"I…" Lily thought a minute, but couldn't think of a straight answer. "I…guess…my friends. I don't know, school maybe. Life, I guess I would say." "Then write about one of those things, Lily!" Robbie laughed. "Why didn't you think of that in the first place? Write about Parker! Write about Megan! Write about Ray! Write about me! Write about Travis!

"Travis…" Lily repeated. "Write about Travis. Write about Travis! That's a great idea, Robbie! I can write about Travis! Thank you so much!"

"Travis? What's there to write about Travis?" Robbie asked. "Zen? Nothing rhymes with Zen!"

"Robbie, I know you're hurt that I'm not writing a song about you, but there's a whole ton of stuff to write about Travis! Besides, a million things rhyme with Zen."

"Name one."

"Zen… ten, when, hen, fen…"

"I said one! Ten, Lily. That's all you had to say."

Lily laughed and bent over her paper, filled with new so many new song ideas she could barely get them all on paper.

"Coast clear?"

"Roger that. Ew. That's my dad's name."

"So nobody's in there but Waller?"

"Roger that. And I'm sure you'll prevent distractions?"

"Got it covered. Waller had tacos for lunch. Nobody will want to go near him after I tell them that."

"Okey dokey, Pokey," Kim poked Ray on the shoulder and smiled. "Just kiddin.'"

"Um…okay… I'll prevent distractions… avoid changing the subject…make sure he's actually _listening_ to you…"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Ray Brennan. I know what I'm doing. You don't have to worry about a thing. I'll have him out of your expensive hair in no time!"

"So you're sure this will work?"

"Yep, dude."

"1… 2… 3… WALLRUS!" Ray and Kim whispered, and Kim slid down the hallway to Principal Waller's office.

"Principal Waller, Sir?" Kim knocked on Waller's half-open door quietly. "Can I talk to you?"

"Oh! Why, hello Kim! Please come in! Uh, shut the door behind you now," he said, spinning around in his black leather swivel chair. Kim slipped inside and shut the door, taking a seat in one of the worn-in green chairs in front of his desk.

The minute it closed, Ray rushed up next to it, trying to hear every word.

"So, Kim," Waller started. "What's on your mind?"

"Well…" Kim looked around at the floor. "Remember when you told me you wanted Ray Brennan to take Khlimchuck's spot?"

"Mmhmm…?"

"Well… I think that's a really crappy idea."

Principal Waller stared at her and she couldn't decide if it was because she disagreed with him, or her way of telling him, so she just continued talking.

"Well, I mean, he shouldn't do it! I heard from his best friend, Robbie McGrath that he's extremely lazy and hates _all_ extra-curricular activities. If he hates it, he'll stink up Cougar Radio! We don't want a sucky person on Cougar Radio! Why don't you just give River more class credits like last year…?"

"How'd you find out about that?"

"Umm… never mind that. The point is that he doesn't want to do it!"

"How do you know?"

"Because…uh… he told me," Kim declared, "and he says you're annoying the hell out of him because you won't leave him alone."

"Miss Carlisle, I want Ray Brennan for Cougar Radio and that's final! Unless of course, you would like to do it?"

"Puh… as _if_!"

"See?"

"Why don't you just make River Pierce do it?"

"Mr. Pierce has informed me that he is much to busy."

"Right."

"If that's all, you may leave now."

"But Sir!"

"End of discussion!"

A light bulb went off in Kim's head and she stood up, "But Sir… I know somebody better than Ray Brennan."

"I'm Question Mark, and I'm wondering . . . why is that when one of your best friends moves away, everything seems . . . different?"

"Well Question," Lily smiled at him, "we all know you're talking about Smog."

"Yeah Shady, but why . . . why . . ."

" . . . Did he have to leave? Is that what you're saying?" Ray popped up.

"Um . . . yeah," Robbie admitted.

"I have a confession to make," Ray stated, "well, I've been really trying to hide it, like by making jokes and stuff, but, you guys, I really miss Smog."

"And we have a caller," Robbie announced.

Lily reached the phone and pressed the blinking button, "Go ahead caller. You're on the air."

"Hi . . .Well, a while ago, I had to move away . . . and I really missed everyone here, so I'm sure Smog misses you guys too," a familiar voice said on the other line.

Robbie automatically knew who it was, but didn't say anything.

"Thanks caller. Your words mean a lot," Lily choked.

Robbie could somewhat tell she knew it was Kim also, but he wasn't sure through her cracking voice.

After more callers, songs, and debates as usual, the show was about to end, but there was still time for one last thing.

"This is RFR signing off," Ray mumbled, "But this last song we'd like to dedicate to our good friend, Smog. Take it away Shady."

Lily hesitated, but began the opening chords of her new song through tears.

_Memories lasting over seas,_

_as far as it may seem,_

_no matter what they say,_

_nothing will be the same._

_It's like you changed the channel,_

_right before my eyes,_

_but maybe if you'd listen,_

_You can hear my distant cries._

_You left parts of you behind,_

_scattered over here,_

_I'm always pressing rewind,_

_to pretend that you are near._

Lily pushed the button to end the broadcast, and the three friends sat there, overcome by a sudden sadness. The only sound was Lily's whimpering.

"Aw, don't cry Lil," Ray frowned, "I hate it when you cry."

Robbie stared at him and couldn't help but feel the sting of tears in his own eyes. Lily covered her face in her hands and sighed.

"Travis . . . was . . . one of my best friends ever!" she sniffed, "I want him to come . . . back . . ."

"Lily, we all do," Robbie told her.

"And you still have us, and we're not going anywhere," Ray smiled.

She breathed in and out again, "Thanks guys."

"You know . . . I need to work on some stuff here, but you guys get going or something," Robbie said, winking at Ray.

"Right, see you Robbie," Ray said.

"Yeah, see you," Lily added, pretending like she didn't see Robbie's wink.

When they got outside the studio, Lily threw her arms around Ray.

"We haven't gotten to talk much for awhile, have we?" Lily asked, wiping away the rest of her tears, and revealing red eyes.

"No . . . I don't like that very much either . . . I think if we permanently super glue ourselves together we could fix that problem," Ray decided, "Except it might be a little hard to go to the bathroom."

Lily laughed. She was overcome with so much emotion in the last hour. She could always count on Ray to make her feel better.

"I love when you do that," Ray said.

"What?"

"When you laugh," he said.

She blushed, "This feels like one of those surreal movies where the characters say dumb things and it's all so fake."

"Lily, this is as real as it gets," Ray said, "I don't see any television cameras! That is, unless we're on one of those weird reality television shows or something."

"Well, in those reality television shows, they are all scripted," Lily said, "So it can't be, unless it gets really predictable."

"What would make it predictable?" Ray asked, "I'm so the least predictable person you know, I've got to be!"

Suddenly, Lily kissed him, sealing her moment.

"Was that predictable?" she asked.

"Naw . . . I was so expecting that."

"Sure."

"Come on, I know you Lily!"

She knew that. She knew that he probably knew her more than she even knew herself, and for the first time, she wasn't afraid of that. She was ready to embrace it.

"So tell me, Kim," Robbie started, closing his locker and looking into his girlfriend's eyes, "how did you manage to get Waller off Ray's back?"

"Oh yeah, this morning Waller walked past me and all he said was 'Hello Mr. Brennan!'" Ray added with a laugh.

"Well . . ." she said with an evil grin, "I just told him I knew someone better."

"Like who?" Robbie asked.

Kim's grin grew wider, "You'll see Mr. Too-Pre-occupied-to-hang-out-with-his-girlfriend-let-alone-talk-to-her-at-school-or-call-her-on-the-phone-once-in-a-while-for-a-whole-week."

"I don't think I like where this is going," Ray eyed Principal Waller strutting down the hallway toward the three.

"Oh no you don't," she laughed, "and Ray, hope you remembered our little _deal_."

"What are you guys . . .?"

"Mr. McGrath," Principal Waller cut him off, getting his attention by taping him on his shoulder.

Robbie turned around abruptly, "Oh, hello Sir."

"Mr. McGrath, come walk with me," Principal Waller instructed.

Finally, it dawned on Robbie.

"God I hate you Kim!" he muttered sarcastically as Principal Waller led him to his office.

"Love ya baby!" she called after him.

"Pretty smooth, Carlisle," Ray admitted when Robbie was out of sight.

"I have my ways," she gushed, "You know, you're not too bad yourself Brennan. We should totally hang out sometime."

"Yeah sure!" he agreed with a small smile, "You want my phone number?"

Kim tapped him on the head twice, "You forgot Brennan, I already have it, remember?"

She smiled at him, than began to skip down the hallway. Ray watched her skip away, and couldn't help thinking of her with a laugh and his new, hyper friend.

_A/N: So, that's it for my first chapter. I hope you stick around to read the next one. I know it's not remotely close to the real RFR, but I hope it is good enough .Please leave me a review! I'm working on the next chapter, so look for that soon!_

_Note: The quotes used in this story were found on another website (I don't think I can post the link), and I give credit to whoever wrote them. Although, I did write Lily's song by myself, and it is all original lyrics._


	2. Pettit Science Project

_A/N: Hey guys, I'm back again for another chapter. You know, I didn't think this site would be that cool, but I think it is! I mean, it's so cool when you get a review! _

_Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own RFR . . . and I have never written for RFR before in seasons 1-4 (Allie-Dee)! _

Episode Two: Pettit Science Project

Radio Free Roscoe was back on the air and Lily knew that none of them were happier about that than Robbie. Sure, Lily was happy it was back, but she was beginning to think that maybe she was slowly moving on. This was Robbie's dream, not hers, and she was moving on the bigger and better things: her own dreams.

Lately, school was getting in the way of almost everything. As a sophomore, she was expected to do more, and still do better. That's why she was so upset when Mr. Martins assigned them all to do a science project. She had no time! A science project would take hours of time; time she just did not have. She wished she was in Ray's science class, which was still learning about magnets, or even Robbie's honors science course would be better than this!

"Hey Randy, don't look so happy!" Parker exclaimed, joining Lily by her locker.

"You seem strangely upbeat today," Lily told Parker, while almost slamming a finger in her locker door.

"Yeah, Well, I got to do a lot of thinking last night," Parker started, "I said 'Parks, (that's what I call myself in my mind) Parks, if it was meant to be, he would have called."

"Well, I'm glad you're over it," she said, "but I still have my mixed feelings about Travis not calling me either."

Parker sighed, "It's just different than us, and that's just the way it is, take it or leave it."

"And we'd take it if he'd just give us the chance again," Lily said, "He has our numbers, we don't have his, it's up to him."

"Righteo," Parker said, putting one arm around her friend.

Deep inside, Parker was fighting it, a battle between her heart and mind. She just had to hide it and not let it affect her anymore.

"Parker?" Lily asked.

"Yessssss?"

"What are you doing for your science project?"

"Well, I'm very glad you asked!" she exclaimed as they sat on one of the hallway benches, "I'm testing the effects of plants in liquids other than water. It was inspired by the time my little cousin poured her unwanted orange juice in Nanny Hanes's fern."

Parker always had such good ideas, and Lily couldn't help but to be somewhat envious of that sometimes.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do!" Lily exclaimed.

Just . . . think of something that interests you," Parker suggested, "Then there will probably be a project you could do, and it could be fun at the same time."

"Science is so . . . boring! I told you about my physics class last year," Lily shamefully remembered.

"Maybe Ed and Ted will help you out again." Parker thought, "By the way, I heard they were doing a perpetual motion device."

"But that's impossible!" Lily objected.

"It's a simulation of one."

Lily rested her elbows on her khaki jeans. She could ask Ed and Ted . . . but it bothered her that she couldn't do something so simple on her own. She didn't want a repeat of last year!

"Hey, Sweetie!" Robbie said to Kim as he entered the Cougar Radio booth. "Thought I'd find you here. Why didn't you come to lunch?"

Kim nervously put aside a yellow spiral notebook that only moments before she had been filling page after page with her cursive. "H-hey… Robbie," she stuttered, obviously hiding something, Robbie decided. As he leaned in to kiss her, his eyes wandered to the paper. He saw 'Robbie' written on the page, but the strange part was that it was there way more then one time. Kim, sensing he was trying to read it, pulled away from the kiss and flipped it closed.

"What was that?" he asked, standing up straight again.

"N-nothing… why?"

"Well, I--"

"Hey, are you doing a science project this year?" she cleared her throat, steering the subject away from the yellow notebook.

"Uh… no, that's Mr. Martin's class. I have … a different teacher."

"Yeah… cool… I heard some sophomores talking about it… so… yeah."

"Yeah," Robbie repeated. He couldn't help but wonder what was written about him in that notebook Kim seemed she would guard with her life. They had spent every day of the summer together, yet this was the most awkward conversation they'd ever had, in his opinion.

Robbie cleared his throat. "Um… so what are you doing tonight? I mean… my mom's not coming home until late… we could go to my house…"

"Are you trying to bribe me?" Kim demanded.

"No! What are you--?"

"Never mind. Sorry. I'm busy tonight." She concluded, throwing a few things, including the notebook, into her backpack and standing up. "Umm… see ya."

Robbie couldn't describe how he was feeling as he watched her rush down the hall. It was like… he had just asked Kim on their first date and she turned him down. Because, Robbie thought at least, whatever was written in that notebook, he felt, was more important then him.

"Why don't you just test paper towels or something?" Ray asked Lily during a song on RFR.

"Because everyone does that, and I need a really good grade," she told him, "besides, it's utterly boring!"

"Lily something will come to you, you don't have to freak out about it," Robbie told her, spinning a CD on one of his fingers.

"FREAK OUT? You think I'm freaking out? Ray, am I freaking out?"

"No. . . of course not!" Ray said hesitantly.

"I'm freaking out! Why do I always freak out?" Lily asked, putting her head down on the table.

"It's not freaking out Lily!" Ray tried to convince her, "It's . . . overly obsessing?"

Robbie glared at Ray.

"OBSESSING?" Lily put her head up.

"NO! No, I didn't mean it like that," Ray said, digging himself out of the hole he was burying himself in.

Lily was muttering to herself when Ray got the idea.

"Lily!" Ray exclaimed, "DUH!"

"Are you calling me stupid now then?"

"No! Lily . . . what's your most favorite thing in the world?"

"Ray . . . don't think I'm doing a science project on _you!_" she laughed, "though it would be kind of funny if I . . ."

"No Lily, not me, though I am flattered . . ."

"What then, I need to know NOW!" she yelled, slamming her palms on the table.

". . . Music!"

"Music," she repeated, "Music . . . music, MUSIC! Ray you're a genius!"

"I know . . . people tell me that a lot . . ."

"Wait!" her smile faded, "How do I do a science project about music?"

Ray sat in thought for awhile, "uh . . ."

"You could like . . . test sound waves or something," Robbie suggested, "Like in the air and stuff like that."

This time Ray glared at Robbie.

"That's awesome!" she exclaimed, "Do you think . . . I could leave early to start researching? I want to see if it's possible . . ."

"Fine with me," Robbie said, his mind still seeming to be somewhere else.

"Robbie! You're the greatest!" Lily decided, giving her friend a hug.

"Yeah, great . . . steal all the glory from me," Ray muttered.

"Aw Ray!"

Lily gave Ray a hug too, and a kiss he was not expecting.

"Thanks!" she said, and with that, was on her way.

"Man, if I would have known helping with homework had rewards like that, I would have started tutoring people a long time ago!" Ray joked.

Robbie stifled a laugh. He liked Ray's sense of humor, but he had more important things to think about, other important things that he just couldn't get off his mind.

Lunch the next day was about as amusing as watching his grandpa take a nap, in Robbie's opinion. Lily was fretting about her project again, and while Ray was trying to get her to calm down, all efforts were useless with the fight she was putting up. Noticing that Kim wasn't at the table, or in the lunchroom for that matter, Robbie slipped away from the table muttering something about how he was leaving, but nobody heard him anyhow. He strolled out of the cafeteria, and began scanning the hallways for Kim.

As he had expected, Kim was sitting on the ground in front of her locker, writing in the same yellow spiral from yesterday. She looked up after a moment, sucking on the end of her pen in thought. She noticed Robbie approaching her and flipped the notebook closed quickly.

"Thought I'd find you here!" Robbie exclaimed. Kim pushed the notebook and pen aside and forced a smile. "If you keep skipping out on lunch, I'll never see you again!"

Although he was only joking, Kim's face turned slightly pink.

"I-I'm not skipping lunch," she laughed mechanically. She picked up a bag of potato chips that were next to her, unnoticed until that point, and held them up to show him.

"Oh, how nutritious," Robbie laughed. "So you couldn't return any of my calls _or _call me because you were too busy buying potato chips?"

Kim opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again when she couldn't think of a good excuse. "Oh-h-h-h…" she stalled. "I-um, I…. was just… I just had a lot of… things on my mind… yesterday. I'm sorry. I…. was really _caught up_… yesterday." She stuffed a handful of chips in her mouth. "Wannnffff shummm?'

She extended the bag towards Robbie, but he shook his head. He tried to fight the lump of curiosity that seemed to grow in his throat with every word he didn't say. He wanted to ask why that yellow notebook with his name in it seemed to be controlling Kim's life. He had the conversation planned out in his head; the only thing he worried about was what her _real_ reaction would be.

"Kim, what are you writing in that notebook?" he finally dared himself to ask. They sat in silence, and Robbie wondered whether she was going to answer or not. A few seconds later, she turned to him.

"Did you say something?" she asked. "Couldn't hear. Too much crunching."

"Ummm…." Robbie started. Kim crumpled up the bag and stood up, picking up the notebook and pen in her free hand. She opened her locker and carelessly threw everything inside. "Nothing," Robbie decided. Kim slammed the locker shut and looked around.

"Okay, then." She concluded. "Better… uh… get going…"

Kim turned away uneasily.

"Uh… wait!" Robbie called, and Kim turned around again. "Kim… are you avoiding me?"

Kim stifled a laugh and rolled her eyes. "No! No!" she smiled. "No I'm not, silly! How about… I call you tonight?"

"Fine," he agreed. Kim kissed him quickly and she walked away, in the opposite direction she had been going before, Robbie noticed, but couldn't help smiling at the fact that her kiss tasted salty.

Robbie was about to walk away; when he noticed Kim's locker was still slightly open a crack. Obviously, when she had slammed it shut, the broken locker had bounced back instead of locking closed. Curiosity got the best of him, and he opened it.

Aside from textbooks and an assortment of colorful pens, all of the junk in Kim's locker was… _junk_. There were various empty potato chip bags, candy wrappers and pop bottles, and a collection of crumpled homework and tests with red 'A's stamped on them. Robbie's eyes wandered over to the yellow notebook Kim had been writing in earlier. It seemed to glow and scream 'Read Me!'

Robbie couldn't help himself; he took it out, and as he turned around, his shoulder bumped into the door and it closed. He panicked, and tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. Sweat seemed to drip down his back as the bell rang, and Robbie was forced to shove the notebook in his backpack and pray Kim wouldn't notice it was gone.

"Ray! I found the perfect science project!" Lily exclaimed, catching up with her friend on the way out of school.

"Awesome Lily, what is it?" he asked, engrossed in his small hand-held video game.

"I'm going to test how music affects heart rate! Isn't that a great idea?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ray answered, battling a large evil turtle on his game.

"You don't seem so excited about it," Lily said, disappointed.

"Sure I am," Ray replied, biting his lip intensely as he went for the last hit on the giant turtle.

"Good, because you know, it was your idea to use music," she reminded him, "I guess I owe you, right?"

Lily pushed the video game away from Ray and kissed him.

"We . . . haven't been doing that much," Ray noticed, when she had pulled away.

"We haven't seen much of each other at all lately," Lily got an idea, "You could help me with my project tonight!"

"I don't know, school outside of school? I don't even do my own homework!" Ray exclaimed.

"True, but we wouldn't do that the whole time. . . " Lily said, raising her eyebrows, "And besides, I need someone to help with this."

"Sure, you got me," he said, making up his mind after she had raised her eyebrows.

"And Ray?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry, I think the giant turtle ate you."

"That's alright . . . I was only on the last level of the game I've been trying to beat since the fifth grade," he replied.

"Oh Ray!"

"It's okay, it was worth it!" he said with a shy smile, "I'd pick you over a giant turtle any day."

"That's good to know . . ." Lily joked.

Together they walked toward the station for another RFR broadcast, waiting for their much over-due night together.

"Robbie… are you okay?" Lily asked as she sat down and put her head phones over her ears before the show. She had noticed him start to act very strange after lunch.

Robbie just sat there and shrugged, clutching his backpack tightly in his lap with sweaty palms.

Ray seemed to be thinking the same as Lily, and noticed Robbie's tight grip on his school bag. "Something wrong with you and Kim? And what's wrong with your backpack? You got a wild animal in it or something?"

Robbie glanced nervously at the clock behind him, "Umm… let's start the show," he decided, although he was a few minutes early.

Lily and Ray exchanged worried glances, but didn't argue. Lily flicked the switch on the control panel and sat down at her usual place, putting her headphones on.

"This is Radio Free Roscoe, thanks for tuning in," Robbie seemed to be rushing. He cleared his throat. "Umm… I'm Question Mark and I'm wondering…"

There were a lot of things he was wondering. Like how to get Kim's notebook back without her finding out and knowing he'd been snooping around in her locker, in her personal business, for one. He felt stupid for even caring about what she was writing in the first place. He wished more then anything that he had just left the notebook alone, wished it wasn't in his backpack… haunting him… driving him insane…

"While Question Mark wonders what he's wondering about," Lily said into her microphone, not wanting dead air to take up the whole show, "Why don't we check out this new song by--?"

"No, I'm ready," Robbie interrupted, planning what he would say as he went along. "I'm Question Mark and I'm wondering… why do accidents happen? I mean, if everything happened the way it was supposed to, wouldn't everyone be happier?"

"Think about it this way," Ray replied, "Accidents normally happen when we're doing something we're not supposed to be."

Robbie's stomach gave an uneasy lurch and he tightened his grip on the bag until

his knuckles were white.

"For example," Ray continued, "One year, a week before Christmas, my brother and I snuck into my parents' room to try to get an early glimpse of our presents. We knew that our mom always kept the presents on the top shelf of her closet, the closet by the window.

"We pulled up a chair, and climbed on, only the chair wasn't strong enough for the both of us to stand on at the same time. I fell off, and while I fell, I grabbed onto the window curtains and –alas!—they ripped. And so, we got in trouble. Of course, my excuse was 'It was an accident!'." Ray laughed, reliving the memory in his head. "If we wouldn't have tried to sneak a peak at our presents, the curtain wouldn't have gotten ripped and Santa probably wouldn't have filled my stocking with coal…"

"Well, Pronto," Lily smiled, "I have a different approach. A lot of common things we see today were made by accident."

"Yeah," Ray scoffed. "Name one."

"Soda," Lily replied quickly, as if expecting him to challenge her, "Scientists were trying to make a sort of medicine that would make you fall asleep. Instead, they got a fizzy, high-caffeinated beverage everyone's well aware of today."

"Electricity," Robbie put in, speaking for the first time in minutes. "Or at least the ability to channel it. Without Ben Franklin and his kite, we'd all be playing chess instead of video games."

"Right you are Question. How about chocolate chip cookies? That lady who wanted all-chocolate cookies and didn't have any cocoa powder added candy bar pieces expecting them to melt through. They stayed together though, and became one of the most popular cookie flavors ever--."

"I said name one!" Ray exclaimed, although he had a grin on his face. "I still think it's bad karma. Those people just got lucky."

Lily laughed, and didn't mention the bottle of soda in Ray's hand.

After an hour of songs and segments, Robbie's mood turned way up. He forgot about the notebook after a while.

"This is RFR, signing off," he concluded.

"Tune in tomorrow or else!" Ray joked.

"Catch you guys later," Lily laughed. She ran over to the control panel and flicked the broadcast switch off. She noticed Travis's empty chair and gloom flooded over her. For the first time, it actually hit her that all of this stuff belonged to Travis. He had left it there for them. He knew they would still continue without him all along.

He's so sweet, she thought. Poor Parker. She's still taking it hard.

She noticed a white envelope sticking out from under a stack of CDs. She thought it was weird that she had never noticed it there before. That stack of CDs had been there as long as she could remember… but never the envelope. She reached for it slowly…

"Hey Lil! What're you doing?" Ray exclaimed behind her, breaking her speeding train of thought. "We going to work on your project now or what? I gotta be home by dinner… mom's ordering pizza."

"Um…" she looked back at him. He was staring at her, expecting an answer. "Yeah," she finished. She backed away from the control station with one last glance at the envelope. _That can be a mystery for another day,_ she decided, and walked out of the station not far behind Ray.

Having ignored Ray's invitation for pizza, Robbie sat alone in the station in his swivel chair. He sat there, wondering if he should go to Mickey's or go home to do his homework, when the thought of Kim's notebook flooded through his brain. Carefully, as though it were dangerous, he opened his bag and pulled it out. His first thought was to call Kim, tell her what had happened and risk losing her or suffering the consequences… _if_ she got mad. But his second thought was _I have it now; I'm alone… what's stopping me from reading it?_

Feeling evil and slightly dishonest, he opened the yellow cover to the first page. Nothing. He kept flipping until he got to about the tenth page, which he found every inch covered in 'Robbie McGrath.' Although he thought this was cute, he was also embarrassed that he was reading something that was probably intended on being kept secret.

After running his hand down the page a few times, he turned it quickly. The next five pages were filled with cartoons of the same boy. He smiled and realized that the boy very much resembled him. After looking through all of the pictures of himself, which often included a girl who he couldn't help guess was Kim, he turned the pages and found cartoons of different people.

Robbie felt a bit guilty that he had never known that his own girlfriend loved to draw so much. She seemed to draw everyone. After looking at these few pages over and over again, he found all of his friends, Principal Waller with an odd expression on his face, and River Pierce with a speech bubble that read 'I have an ego as big as my butt.' Even though he thought this was funny, he hadn't found the page he had seen a glimpse of the day before, before Kim had flipped it closed quickly.

Then it occurred to Robbie that this might be Kim's journal; that he should stop reading it and return it right away. Still, he found himself turning the page over. What came next appeared to be a school assignment.

_Kimberley Carlisle_—

It said in the top, right margin—

_Mrs. Shipman, Honors Literature_

_Grade 12_

'_Best Friends' Essay –MY VERSION-_

Robbie assumed it would be a boring school assignment, but his eyes scanned down the page anyway.

_I've never had a best friend in my life. Well, up until last year when some whacked out incident made me best friends with a Freshman _boy, _so I consider the other people in the world lucky. They've all had best friends—since they started pre-school, probably. They've all gone to each other's houses and played Barbies and ate ice cream and had sleepovers. At least… I _think_ that's what you do at sleepovers. Yeah, they think I don't know anything about having a best friend (and I don't really), but I've heard them talk about stuff like that all my life, what best friends are supposed to do. Well, in their opinion anyway. My best friend's a boy. You think we really play with Barbies and eat ice cream and talk about boys? Robbie doesn't like talking about how hot the kid who sits behind me a few rows back in math is, so that sorta eliminates talking about boys (unless River Pierce did something stupid again, that's always fun to talk about); my Barbies are jammed somewhere in my attic (and I'm sure Robbie would _love_ to play Babysitter Barbie, or even me, seeing as though I'm 17). I don't remember eating ice cream with him ever either…_

_I don't really talk about Robbie much in front of anyone. Partially because there's no one to talk about him _to,_ and also because of all the stupid flames I'll get. Robbie's a Grade 10, and for some reason, that's not okay with people. But I'm not even supposed to _care_ about anything anymore because ever since I came back from Paris, I'm supposed to be some carefree, loving, hyper-active maniac everyone loves. I don't even want to be like that, and I really don't know what's preventing me from being a jerk again. I guess if it weren't for Robbie I wouldn't have lasted like this. It's like he likes me better now that I'm a psycho. That's pretty sucky given the fact that I thought he liked me for who I really was… or maybe he likes me _better _now because according to the guy in front of me in chemistry, I'm "hot" now. That would suck even more. This is such a waste of time. I wish I could_

The paper ended abruptly, and Robbie found his hands shaking on the paper. What was this all supposed to mean? He wondered. _If it weren't for Robbie I wouldn't have lasted like this…_ every time he read the line, a chill ran down his spine. And the last line: _I wish I could…_ I wish I could _what?_

Robbie read the whole thing over a few times. He had a strange feeling he couldn't figure out. _Why didn't I know any of this,_ he wondered. He tried to tell himself Kim hadn't written this, but he knew he was just lying to himself. Kim _had_ written it; it was in her hand-writing, and it was exactly the way Kim would have written it last year.

Last year? Robbie thought. She's changed a lot. But this essay has yesterday's date on it. So, somewhere inside, the _old_ Kim, not the happy, cutesy, popular one, is still there?

It felt strange to think of Kim as 'The New' and 'The Old' one. _She's still the same person… but… different,_ Robbie decided at last. Now he understood. The _old_ Kim… or, the way Kim _used_ to act, a year ago… was just the sad little girl who wanted a friend to play with and have sleepovers with, trapped inside a teenager who knew she had no chance of recreating a happier childhood.

_So I made this new Kim?_ Robbie wondered. _I helped her be happier… I gave her a first best friend? She's so different… because of me?_

Robbie read through it again and now understood what it meant. Still, he decided as he slipped it in his backpack and left the station, he would have been happier if he _hadn't_ stolen that stupid yellow notebook in the first place.

After late night project help, and crunch time, the Henry Roscoe High Science Fair was finally underway. All sophomores assigned projects, and any that wanted to (like the science club of course!) were preparing their speeches a few minutes before the judging would start.

Ray, feeling very out of place near a group of "science club nerds" was browsing the gym in search of Lily's project. Knowing Lily and her stage fright, and being the great boyfriend he was, he had to be there for things like this.

"Ray! There you are!" Lily exclaimed, pulling him aside, "I'm FREAKING OUT!"

"Chill Lil!" he said, "Haha that rhymes!"

"Ray!" she glared at him, "No time to joke! This is my GRADE at stake here! I can't totally bomb science again this year!"

"I know! Come on Lily, You know you have a chance to completely blow everyone out of the water."

"Except Ed and Ted . . ."

"Well yeah, except them of course."

"Ray!"

"Ouch!" he rubbed his arm after Lily hit him, and turned away. "Sorry Lily!"

"Yeah, yeah, I was just making you feel bad," she said, "I'll be fine."

"Lily Randall," Principal Waller said, with the entire staff of science teachers behind him.

"Uh . . . hello sir," she said nervously.

Principal Waller cleared his throat and glared at Ray.

"I'm gone," he said, holding up his arms, "Good luck Lily."

She smiled uneasily.

"So, 'How Music Affects Heart Rate'" one of the judges read, "How did you get this idea?"

"Well, uh, music . . . it's good. I . . . um, like it . . . a lot! I like it a lot!" she said, "My friend did it . . . well, gave me the idea for it."

"Please demonstrate."

"So, everyone has a pulse! And pulse can easily be measured . . . so when you play music . . . it can change," Lily said nervously, doubting every word that came out of her mouth. "Okay, so first you play music because that's how you do the experiment, and then you test the pulse . . . to see if it changed. Wait! You have to test your pulse first so you know if it changed incase it changed because that's how you do the experiment."

Lily smiled uneasily at the judges as they gave her questioning looks.

"So, I'm going to demonstrate by testing someone's pulse."

Principal Waller held out a pale, clammy hand.

Lily tested his pulse and tried to smile in the process, "It's uh . . . 200 beats per minute . . ."

"200? That's impossible!" he objected, "Maybe that's your pulse because you're so darn nervous!"

"Um . . . yeah, so now I'm going to play music . . . The Pettit Project to see if it changes."

They wait for a minute, and Lily rechecks the pulse. Maybe she should have studied more for this, or maybe she shouldn't have let Ray distract her. She knew she was bombing it, so she gave in.

"No change!" she decided.

"No change . . . maybe it's this 'new fangled' music you teens are listening to these days!" Waller decided.

"The end!" Lily said.

The judges clapped slowly. She knew she had failed.

"Thank you Lily," Mr. Martins, her science teacher said, "I'll pass you for the effort."

She smiled, but inside she knew she didn't deserve it.

"So . . . what happened?" Ray asked, appearing at her side as soon as the judges had left.

"I passed . . . at least I passed."

"You bombed then," he said.

"But I did pass!" she objected.

"It's a start! Next year maybe I'll do the science fair . . . and I'll do it about stage fright," he teased.

"Haha," Lily said with a smile, and linked arms with Ray as they went to catch up with Robbie and Parker to wait and see who won.

"Hey," Kim smiled as she came up behind Robbie in front of a project someone had done on goldfish. "Haven't seen you all day."

Her voice was thick. Robbie sighed, and then turned around. "Hey Kim, what's up?"

He imagined his palms become sweaty.

Kim shoved a packet of papers in his hands, her smile plastered on her face. "I got an 'A' on my _essay_, McGrath."

Robbie hated when she called him McGrath. Somehow, he knew, she had found out it was him who took her notebook.

_Well duh! Nobody else knew about her notebook! _He thought looking down at the papers she had given him. It was much longer then the one in the yellow spiral, and as he scanned the first few pages, he didn't see his name anywhere.

"_Well?"_ Kim demanded, although Robbie didn't really know _what_ she was demanding.

"I'm not surprised you got an 'A'… I mean, it's really interesting…"

Kim snatched the essay out of his hands and glared, "Where's my notebook, McGrath?"

"I…uh…" Robbie stuttered, fishing into his bag and pulling it out. "I'm _really_ sorry. I shouldn't have been in your locker… and, I was going to put it back but it closed on accident…"

"Shut up already!" Kim burst out. Robbie closed his mouth and stared at her. "Thank you. Now. . . "

She flicked Robbie hard on his right cheek and his hand shot to the spot automatically. To him, it felt similar to a slap.

"_That _was for going through my locker. Now. . ."

Robbie braced himself for another flick in the cheek, but it never came.

Kim continued, "How much did you read?"

"I just saw the drawings… and your essay… about me…" he muttered.

"Oh!" Kim smiled. Robbie smiled back, not sure what to expect. Kim flicked him again, only this time it was on his left cheek. He rubbed his face again. "_That_ was for reading it."

"I'm sorry! I deserve it!" Robbie whined. Kim just shrugged. "Wait… how come you never told me you like to draw?"

"You never asked," she replied. "I guess there's a lot you don't know about me."

Robbie couldn't help but agree in his head.

Kim turned away from Robbie for a second and flipped through the back pages, thankful Robbie hadn't seen the fifth page from the end:

_I'm in love with Question Mark…_

"The suspense is KILLING me Ed!" Ted expressed loudly.

"I wonder who will win Ted . . ." Ed pronounced, as though he were a bad actor.

The two biggest "science nerds" of the school knew they had the first place prize in the bag. Who else spent long days and nights working on a science project? No one of course! All those "lower" scientists were forced into doing this project, thinking science was just some measly _game_. Ed and Ted treated science like the gold they believed it was. They lived and breathed science up into this day.

"So Parker how do you think you did?" Lily asked, as they caught up with her.

"I think I passed at least . . . you know, how about you Randy?" she smiled cheerfully.

"I definitely passed . . ."

"She bombed!" Ray flat-out said.

Lily punched Ray for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"But I passed."

"That's good at least, you never know, you might win a prize!" Parker said.

"PPPPFFFFFFTTTT!" Ray tried not to laugh, and mocked Lily, "Hi I'm Lily, and this is what you do first because that's how you do the experiment."

Lily hit Ray again, "I'm sensing a pattern," Ray noticed, rubbing his arm.

"And now, if I could have everyone's attention please!" Principal Waller announced on the microphone at the front.

There was a loud squeak of feed-back so everyone covered their ears and shot around toward the noise.

"Thank you," The Principal said, clearing his throat and picking his ear, "I would like to announce the winner and runner up to the thirty-third annual Henry Roscoe High science fair."

Ed and Ted straightened their ties and checked their hair in small mirrors.

"Our runners up for this year are . . . Ed and Ted, with their perpetual motion device simulation! Our winners from last year!" he announced.

"WHAT?" Ed exclaimed.

"I DEMAND A RECOUNT!" Ted exclaimed, "Ed! Did they make a mistake?"

"That's what you get for being so pompous!" Parker mentioned, as they slowly went up to receive their small plaque.

"And I'm proud to announce the new winner this year . . . with her lovely fern experiment . . . Parker Hanes!"

Parker skipped up to the front to receive her large blue ribbon, and Lily's mouth hit the floor.

"Parker . . . won?" Ray said, "Awesome! Way to put those geeks in their place!"

Parker grabbed the microphone, "I'd like to thank Lily, Ray, Megan, my cousin Bobby, and my Nanny Hanes! To all of you wonderful people for believing in me when I was at my lowest . . . It feels great to be an honorary science nerd for a day. You know, when I was in the fifth grade I was actually in the science club. It was only for a week, but I could tell that excellence would come my way in the science field one day . . ."

"Thank you Parker, you don't have to make a speech. Good luck at the Regional Science Fair!" Principal Waller said.

"Regional Science Fair! Ed that should be us!" Ted exclaimed.

"PARKER! PLEASE ENLIGHTEN US WITH YOUR BRILLIANT KNOWLEDGE OF SCIENCE!" Ed and Ted dropped to their knees and begged as the rest of the people started to put their projects away and leave.

Parker returned to where Ray and Lily were still standing, stunned.

"Parker! Congratulations!" Lily exclaimed.

"Well, you know how it is . . . I really wanted to do good this time!" she explained, "and there is room for me and a friend at the regional science fair . . . can you say weekend vacation with my best friend Lily?"

"Awesome!" Lily said.

"Just Lily? I thought I was your best friend too!" Ray pointed out.

Parker and Lily glared at Ray.

"Just wait until next year Parker . . . Lily is going to blow you out of the water!" Ray decided, "What do you say Lily? We could do plants this time! How about DNA? Animals maybe? What do you say?"

"I say there is NEVER going to be a next year Ray!" Lily laughed.

_A/N: So there was my next chapter. I am SO SORRY this took so long, please forgive me! I will be posting the next chapter as soon as I finish it, which hopefully will be sooner than this one took. Thanks for the reviews for the first chapter! They were pretty cool. If anyone wants to contact me on a site/e-mail leave it in your review or just e-mail me. Thanks again everyone!_


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